It’s Often Been Said ...
... that Pennsylvania is a bellwether of the nation’s political mood.

With control of Congress, statehouses and governor’s mansions across the nation on the
line in November, former President Bill Clinton ventured into the bellwether’s bellwether – Philadelphia and its suburbs -- today, where he exhorted voters to show the same energy and to turn out in the same numbers that propeled the party to victories in Congress and the White House in 2006 and 2008.

Appearing in Montgomery County for U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak and West Philadelphia for gubernatorial hopeful Dan Onorato, Clinton put the consequences of a Democratic defeat on Nov. 2 in the starkest of terms:

“If you stay home, then all the naysayers will be rewarded,” Clinton told the crowd of about 500 who turned out for Onorato’s outdoor rally in a densely lined district of shops and restaurants at the corner of 52nd and Chestnut Streets in the city.

“If you really believe in what you did in 2006 and 2008, you have got to show up in 2010. You have got to do it,” Clinton said. “And you have got to tell your friends and neighbors … don’t let someone tell you they don’t care anymore. Don’t let someone tell you it doesn’t matter. It does matter.

Observers have said that Democratic lethargy could cancel out the party’s massive voter registration edge, giving Republicans, who are seemingly more energized this campaign season, the opening they need to retake Congress and continue a decades-old tradition of the major parties swapping control of the governor’s mansion every eight years.

With that in mind, “We want to get down to business. And the business is getting Democrats, independents and Republicans who care about this country and care about this city out to vote on Nov. 2,” said Gov. Ed Rendell, who will leave office in January after serving his maximum of two terms. “Because if we don’t vote, we can’t complain.”

Hoping to ignite that spark, a revolving door of prominent Democrats have, or will, touch down on state soil.

In addition to Clinton, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine of Virginia made a joint appearance with Rendell at the University of Pennsylvania last week, where they delievered a similar message.

Vice President Joe Biden was set to appear at a Sestak fund-raiser on tonight. And President Barack Obama is expected to campaign for the Delaware County congressman during a swing through Pennsylvania next week.

During an appearance at Jewish community center in the Philadelphia suburbs, Clinton urged voters to give Obama and congressional Democrats more time to turn the economy around and to not give the reins to Republicans.
“We all know we’re in terrible trouble,” Clinton told the crowd of about 150 in the wealthy suburb of Wynnewood. “It is my opinion that the 20 months the president and Congress have had to dig out of the hole is not enough.”

In a statement, Sestak’s Republican opponent, former Lehigh Valley congressman Pat Toomey, dismissed Sestak as a liberal who marches in lockstep with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Sestak is “more liberal than many of his fellow Pennsylvania Democrats in Congress,” the campaign’s statement said.

Clinton’s appearance comes at a critical time for Onorato, the elected county executive of Allegheny County, who trails Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett in most public polls.

The Pittsburgh Democrat has spent much of the last few weeks trying to draw bright line distinctions between himself and Corbett, most notably on the issue of whether to impose a new tax on natural gas drillers working in the Marcellus shale deposits in rural western and northern Pennsylvania. The issue will top the legislative agenda this fall in Harrisburg.

Onorato favors a tax, with the proceeds split between an impact fund for local governments, restoring budget cuts at the Department of Environmental Protection and the creation of a new “Growing Greener III” program that would underwrite farmland preservation and other efforts.

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